Dr. Charles S. Hirsch is the chief medical examiner of New York City and has overseen the autopsies on more than 100,000 people. He would probably remain a mystery to most New Yorkers, if it weren't for his ruling on the death of Det. James Zadroga, who worked clean-up at Ground Zero after September 11, 2001. Hirsch said that Zadroga's death wasn't related to Ground Zero dust, but ground-up pills the detective was allegedly injecting.... more ›

Last week, it was revealed that the NYC medical examiner Dr. Charles Hirsch did not believe WTC dust ultimately killed NYPD Detective Charles Zadroga. Zadroga, who worked rescue and recovery in the World Trade Center debris after September 11, died after a long, protracted battle of a respiratory disease in 2006. Now it turns out that Hirsch thinks Zadroga's death was caused by prescription drug abuse. more ›

Harry Houdini's funeral was held on November 4, 1926, in New York, with over two thousand mourners in attendance. He was buried at the Machpelah Cemetery in Queens where the crest of the Society of American Magicians is inscribed on his grave site. To this day, that Society holds their "Broken Wand" ceremony at the grave site on the anniversary of his death. With a new biography called “The Secret Life of Houdini” that came out late last year, and which in part questions the real reason for Harry Houdini's death, some people are calling for the body to be exhumed. Others are calling this a publicity stunt. more ›

The seamy details of murders were examined in the NY Times article about some recent discoveries of murdered bodies. The big news is that murderers are utilizing plastic bags more (versus steamer trunks in the old days), and that actually helps the NYPD identify the victims, not to mention figure out who might be behind the crime. Gothamist found this explanation from former chief medical examiner Dr. Michael Baden fascinating:

The plastic tends to preserve them for longer periods of time than if it had just been buried in the ground. A lot of destruction to a body comes from insects, maggots, rats and vermin, depending on where you are. The plastic is very good at preserving the tissues for longer periods of time. They can't tell the odor or they can't get to it. There are a lot of myths. In the old days they used to put bodies in lye. It turns out that lye, rather than destroy the body, preserves it, because it kills the bacteria and any insects. Plastic does the same thing.